Power Station pics

[Andrew Darné]

Well just over 2 years later and I found the picture that I promised of the engines in the station... probably one of the last pics taken before the dismantling begun.

[John Creedy]

Great pics.  I hope Jack McBride in England sees that photo.

[Clive Symes]

JOhn,
Jack proberly has photos of the old Ruston that used to be in the Town Power station.
Somewhere in the Attic I have photos of Frank Quirk and Roy Fields when we were working on one of the Mirrlees engines

[John Creedy]

Clive, do you remember Mr Bryant -I think worked in one of the PS?  They lived next door to the Laughlans - Jean I remember.  I remember Frank, Roy and Ginger.

[Michael Alexander]

These gens were diesel driven, right?  If so was there a fuel line from the tank farm directly supplying the power station or was the diesel tankered in?

If it was the fuel line, where is that pipe today?

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

Mike, the diesel was supplied from the tank farm to receiving tanks in the yard at the power station.

As to where the line is now, I would imagine that it is has been capped but still there, as I cannot remember any pipe being removed from the station or surrounding area.

[Michael Alexander]

Well...lets assume that the distance between the Tf and the station to be at least 2,5 km... now if we knew what the diameter of the pipe, and if the pipe was capped on both ends, then I should have enough diesel to power my bakkie for 5 years?

nice theory....

[Andrew Darné]

Mike A, take a drive towards PCC along Mine Road, as you reach the last houses on your left, look next to the white "paaltjies" along side the cycle track all the way to the Industrial road intersection... I think that must be it. It used to be covered by a heap of sand until they prepared that section of ground for development. The pipe is empty in town and on the mine side.
There is a section of the pipe still visible in the mine between the old 38G and the newer 37G substations and runs alongside the power lines where it would have come from the Tank Farm to the west of 37G sub. I'll try for a pick when I'm in that area again.
Nice idea for beating the once again rising fuel costs. Be cautioned though... they tried using reclaimed fuel from the decommissioned fuel line in the mine that ran between Uubvley and 2 plant... the result was not pleasant.

[SandyB]

The  quality of Diesel  from then  to now  is in all llikelyhood  chalk and cheese ...  and these were marine diesel engines  they could run on just about anything  .. consider the  car diesel engines of now to 10 years ago ... most new engines now demand low sulphur  finer quality  for effiency .. what you put in  is what  you get out ..  trouble ...  down to  lubrication  my one colleague after  his Renault  Scenic  was out of its warranty period  and service  plan  decided to go to a regular garage for serviceto  save money  .. prob is the  engine a 1.9 TDI  requires a good semi synthetic oil ..   two weeks after   the service by the  regular  garage  his oil level was dangerously low ... he was lucky he almost wrecked  the motor ..  he went back to Renault  they  did a flush and pout the correct  oil in ..  no more probs ...
The reason why engines today with  up to 50 % more  output for same  cc if well looked after can last  300000 ks plus is  finer  tolerances  and better engineering but yes  finer products to support   the output ..  the old afrikaans expression of  "  goedkoop koop  is duur koop can apply " //

[Alfred Boehme]

Guys look at these two clasic's I've found, the question is are they old or are they OLD

[Michael Alexander]

Nice snaps Alfie, I always wondered what the idea was behind constructing a power station in the middle of the town was?

[Bob Molloy]

Hi Mike,
            The pic, judging by the housing background and the old electrical workshop (where Gunter Machts held sway) was taken in the early 50s. As to why a powerstation should be built in town and not elsewhere, it was presumably to balance the load on the grid.
Apart from a few electrically operated scoops, tanks and excavators north of town, the town itself would have taken a healthy portion of the load, added to which were the old South Workings and the pumps at Swartkops. Hence at the time the placing of the p/s centrally i.e. in town, would have seemed logical.
Of course, as with all best laid plans, the growth in power loading caused by the HMS and the steady accretion of new screening plants creeping further and further north eventually made the decision look very pointless indeed.
At one stage it was described as "the largest diesel-driven power station in the southern hemisphere". It was heavily damaged by a rather dodgy fire, made even more dodgy by the fact that it occurred coincidentally just as an apparently purposeless spur line from the SA national grid was built from Springbok to within a bull's roar of the Orange River.
Despite the rather limited damage an instant decision was made to close the station and hook up to the new line, just  a hop, skip and jump across the bridge. But wait, isn't the bridge the hell and gone out of town? Well, as it happened, the company had just completed a heavy duty HT line to Swartkops, ostensibly to replace the original which powered the water pumps. Oh, and what the hell, at the same time decided to throw a heavy duty HT cable cross the bridge to light the guard office at the other end. I think it had a single 60 watt bulb and perhaps a switchplug on the wall by the door in those days.
Out the window went the world's largest diesel station and with it a multi-million rand infrastructure - pipeline, tank farm etc. All this of course to the sound of Namibian independence bells ringing, leaving SA with a hand on the tap should it ever be needed. As any journo knows, the best stories never get written.

[SandyB]

Yes  Bob  the  real story  will  never be knowm as to why the decision to shut  down .. the  decision to go onot ESKOM .. .. the timing  very  well .. you  know ...
Of  course the next next  is  why the powerstations were not kept .. they could now have  been  piumping  excess capacity into our now  strained  power grid .. I mean  ESKOM as a  power  supplier  let  the  larger southern africa  down  with its lack of  foresight    to  supply for  growth ..

[Michael Alexander]

Yes, Thanks Bob, I heard that Eskom has/was providing cheap electricity to the mines at below cost to encourage investment and development.....

I also could never understand why they shut the place down...... Can you confirm that the Powr station building was a rebuilt building that came from Kolmanskop....? I heard the mine store (magazine) also came brick by brick from the old german mines

[Bob Molloy]

Yes indeed, much of the ironwork and cladding for the powerstation came from Kolmanskop as did the early brickwork for the Magazine.
From around the early Forties the ghost towns of the Namib were steadily cannibalized for materials, not necessarily as a cost saving but rather because there was a dearth of building material due to the war. Practically all of the old wooden houses came down from the north in bits and pieces and were reassembled in town. From '50 onwards the emphasis moved to use of breeze block (cement blocks) cast on the spot. Later even these were trucked in by the ever reliable Jowells Transport.
Re the ghost towns per se: I think I sent you a copy of an article I did on that subject which included pix. Perhaps this could be run again somewhere on the website?